MBA or CFA to get to FP&A
Hello all!
I apologize if the subject of this post has been addressed before but I couldn’t seem to find a post in which it had.
After doing much research and information interviews, I’ve realized that I would like to switch to an FP&A role and was curious on how I would get there based on my situation.
Briefly, I have a predominant accounting background with a few years of public accounting experience. I have my CPA license as well. Currently I work as analyst for a large insurance company (F500). The majority of my work is preparing monthly reports for management and investigating variances. (It's hard to explain without divulging too much, but my current company doesn't have actual FP&A roles, so switching in company is not an option)
I have some desirable skills for the role but not all.
Based on my experience, would I be able to get the role without improving my qualifications or would I need to improve my qualifications by getting an MBA or passing the CFA exam? Particularity if I want to get into a interesting/ good industry?
The MBA or CFA question is particularly interesting to me. Given that I’m not making such a monumental career shift, it seems hard to justify the expense of an MBA. Conversely though, would having my CFA be a good substitute?
More on the MBA.. As said above, since I’m not making a huge career change, would I be able to ‘get away with’, so to speak, not going to a top tier program if an MBA is necessary? If I was a marketing brand analyst and wanted to become an Investment Banking analyst at a top firm, I could see the need to shoot for a Stanford or Harvard, but as it is, my career shift is not that dramatic.
Thanks for your help and I was curious of your thoughts!
I can't see how a MBA would hurt, but being a CPA with a public accounting background should get you a lot of looks if nothing else.
(1) It sounds like you are already in an FP&A role...what do you think FP&A is or what are you hoping it would entail?
(2) You should get looks on applying for FP&A roles given your CPA, however if you want to move up then an MBA will be important...school won't be as important but better schools give you a better shot at higher levels earlier.
(3) CFA won't add much value to what you are looking to do unless you want to go into corp dev or M&A strategy roles.
I have both an MBA and a CFA charter. You will be able to complete your MBA faster than you would the CFA exams. You are looking at minimum August 2019 before you find out if you passed all the exams and that assumes passing each on the first attempt.
Thanks for your response.
(1) My role, though it involves a reporting aspect, is more of a gloried accounting position. Though the end result of my work is report to management, our reporting process (comparing budget to actual) serves primarily as an internal control for our accounting department, ensuring the accuracy of our GL. (As to say, the primary purpose of us investigating budget variances is to determine if an accounting error has been made). On top of that, I also spend a lot of time to prepare our annual financial statements.
What I would like to get out an FP&A role,(let me know if I'm misguided) is opportunity to work in a more forward looking aspect of a company. Whereas accounting is writing yesterday's news, an FP&A role would let me be more involved with the big picture of company, where it's going, the type of deals it will get into ect..I would feel more involved with the company and other departments. I'd like to be a part of financial modeling and produce actual reports that figure into management's decision making It also allows me to use some of job experience I have so far.
(2) I gather getting my choice of industry to be in FP&A is difficult. (I figure a dull industry means duller work). Is this a possible area where an MBA would be beneficial?
(3) Interesting to know about the CFA. That's quite a long process. I had thought about Corp Dev or M&A strategy roles. The CFA would help with that? I figured those are jobs for which one would definitely need an MBA.
Thanks!
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